Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Jam a sliver of desire into the head of the DM

Because the
game is not written down in front of you. It takes place between you and other
people. And generally the game doesn’t need to inspire everyone playing to the
same extent. Mainly it needs to jam a sliver of desire into the head of the DM.
They will then actively seek out people to make the game happen. Very often
games are forced into being by one person with a weird idea stuck in their
head. So that’s what art has to do. Jam that idea into the brain.

In a comment on G+, Zak says "all illustrators are always also the game designer". I have long held a similar (though perhaps more trivial) idea: that it's a fun exercise to page through your favorite RPG products and interpret the illustrations as rules.